Jump Trading turns to World Cup forecasting in search of new talent

DraftKings

10/06/2026 11:00

    June 10 (Reuters) - Jump Trading has launched a global soccer forecasting competition, inviting participants to predict match outcomes of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the trading firm said on Wednesday.
Aimed at helping Jump identify talent it may not otherwise encounter, the event reflects growing efforts by trading firms to tap broader talent pools.
Peer Jane Street has long used mathematical puzzles, datathons and games-based challenges to surface candidates outside traditional finance backgrounds.
Jump said eligible participants will get paid prediction markets fellowship and will work at the quantitative trading firm's Chicago headquarters alongside research, trading and technology teams.
The contest, Jump Probability Cup, will not involve wagering, instead testing participants' ability to forecast and make decisions under uncertainty.
Hosted on SportsPredict — a third-party sports prediction platform — the contest will score participants using a weighted Brier score, a methodology used in professional probability research.
Founded in 1999, Jump Trading uses advanced technology, research and data-driven strategies to trade across global financial markets, employing more than 2,000 traders, engineers and researchers across eight countries.
Interest in prediction markets climbed sharply during the 2024 U.S. presidential election and is expected to rise further during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, set to be the largest soccer event ever, benefiting online sports betting companies.


 (Reporting by Anirban Sen in New York and Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
 ((Prakhar.srivastava2@thomsonreuters.com;))